Violet Stardust

Violet Stardust is a roguelike deck building game made by a solo developer. Runs are randomised and built around two interconnected decks. The Room Deck governs exploration: playing a Room Card takes the player to a new location, where they may encounter enemies, search for cards, recover from earlier battles or find opportunities to craft. Between rooms, new Room Cards can be added to the deck, gradually shaping the world encountered on that run. Certain rooms bring the player closer to a boss, so continuing a run means weighing how far to push before that encounter arrives.

The Creature Deck is used in combat, which takes place across a battlefield of lanes where positioning matters. Creature cards have differing attack values, health and special abilities, and the player places them to block incoming attacks, break through enemy defences and strike the opponent directly. Some cards are effective alone, while others depend on being combined with particular abilities. Crafting extends both decks: Room Cards can be combined to create new locations, abilities can be transferred between creature cards, and matching cards can be merged to strengthen a deck.

Progress is not entirely lost at the end of a run. A feature called the Printing Press allows the player to preserve discovered cards, permanently unlocking them as options for future starting decks. The game includes dozens of creatures with unique stats and abilities, boss encounters that build over the course of each run, and a retro pixel art presentation.